JAN VAN KESSEL THE ELDER | A SCULPTED CARTOUCHE WITH FLORAL STILL LIFE, WITH THE CHRIST CHILD AS SALVATOR MUNDI

Jan van Kessel was a member of the great Brueghel dynasty and spent his life in Antwerp. The grandson of Jan Brueghel the Elder, Van Kessel took much inspiration from his relation’s work. Jan Brueghel the Elder was a pioneer in the development of the genre of garland paintings, which grew out of the imagery of the Counter-Reformation. The floral still lifes typically surround a devotional image or portrait, executed in collaboration with a figure painter.

It has been suggested that the author of the Christ Child here may be Erasmus Quellinus the Younger, pupil of Sir Peter Paul Rubens.

Van Kessel also collaborated with his uncle, David Teniers the Younger - interestingly the mark on the reverse of this panel indicates that it was made by the Antwerp panelmaker, François de Bout (active 1637–1649), who is known to have provided many of Teniers’ panels.